It was a moment Hollywood star Nicole Kidman described as “harrowing” – on the day she discovered her beloved mother Janelle had died.
The 58-year-old star was in Italy at the time, preparing to be honoured at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
Except, she found herself in a hotel bed alone, reeling and “completely devastated”.
“My husband wasn’t there. My children weren’t there,” Nicole shared in an interview with Hoda Kotb, as part of HISTORYTalks 2026, a live speaker series by The History Channel. “I’d gone to win an award. What should have been a beautiful thing, ended up with that,” she went on.
“But there is the contrast of life, and that’s what I always say to people. I say that’s when I know I’m resilient. That’s when I know I can survive pretty much anything.”
Two years on, the acting legend has embraced a whole new approach to death – training to become a death doula – something she finds “fascinating”.
“It’s very beautiful, and you have to be a certain personality to be able to do it. But I found out that I’m actually that personality. It’s very important to me,” the star shared.
“There is always suffering, but if there are people there who can help with that, help those final stages be less painful — if you feel the connection in your heart, then that’s lovely. So that’s what I’m exploring.”
Now insiders have told Woman’s Day that the passing of Nicole’s mum, combined with her difficult 2025 divorce from husband Keith Urban, has led to a profound change – a change that has shown itself in her relationship with her and Keith’s shared daughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15.
“The breakdown of Nicole’s marriage didn’t happen overnight, so it’s been a lot of work and a lot of tears to get to this place and she’s determined to keep things real,” the source says.
“Her mum’s death was a turning point. She says herself it was devastating but also clarifying in that it triggered something deep about the importance of dignity and comfort at the end of life. Becoming a death doula is Nicole’s way of turning her pain into purpose.”
Along with coming face to face with death, Nicole also told Kotb that she craves connection – urging her daughters to hug her for two minutes a day.
“It releases certain chemicals in the body,” Nicole explained. “And everyone needs to be hugged for about two minutes a day.”
“Demanding long daily hugs from her girls is another example of her choosing to be ‘present’ and connected, with a physical daily ritual,” a source tells Woman’s Day.
“It’s also something that she wasn’t able to do every day with her own mum, so it’s brought her so much more gratitude to the space she’s created with Sunday and Faith.”
It’s understood that for the girls, who are dealing with their own shock and pain from the divorce and losing their gran, this daily ritual with mum has got them through some tough times.
“It’s incredibly grounding for them. Seeing their mum finally open up about her grief, they feel part of that too because they were there every step of the way – and there were plenty of times mum needed that two minutes,” the insider explains.
It’s an insight that has proved particularly notable, given that Sunday Rose made headlines on April 28 for seemingly unfollowing her father on Instagram.
It was seen as a telling move, amid reports Keith’s relationship with his daughters has been strained following his split with Nicole after 19 years of marriage.
24 hours later, however, the move was reversed – with Sunday once again following her dad.
Even so, there’s still a difficult path ahead.
“[The girls] are completely team Nicole and, right now, Keith is the bad guy,” a source told the Daily Mail. “He is the cause of every problem in their minds, and it’s harrowing for him. He’s really distraught about it.
“He loves those girls, but they are so angry at him and they’re blaming him,” the insider added.
The insider went on to say it wasn’t a case of “Nicole painting a narrative”. “This is the girls coming to this conclusion on their own,” the source said.
As for Nicole, an insider tells Woman’s Day that as she approaches her 60th birthday, she wants to start her next decade as “strong as possible”, which is why she’s pivoting to “inner work”.
“Training as a death doula is heavy emotional work that requires empathy, patience and a sense of humour. In the past Nicole’s always powered through her emotional pain by throwing herself into work,” the source explains.
“This time she’s not running away from the pain of the last few years, but turning toward it. She wants to live more intentionally and make life about quality, not quantity.”
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